Finland Crowns a New ‘Wife-Carrying’ Champion

Ah, leave it to the Finns and their bizarre contests to make you scratch your head in wonder. This Northern European country, which is home to the Air Guitar World Championship, the Mosquito Swatting Championships and the Swamp Soccer Championships (just to name a few), is also the proud creator of the Wife Carrying World Championships.

The Finns have just crowned a new wife-carrying champion, with the top honor going to a lawyer by the name of Taisto Miettinen, along with his lovely wife Kristiina Haapanen. They ran the course in a little more than a minute.

If you’re a man with a wife, you might be sizing up your better half right now, and either thinking “piece of cake,” or perhaps “not a snowball’s chance in heck." Well, before you make any final decisions (and get in trouble with the wife), there are a few things you should know first.

This isn’t a mere cakewalk (sorry, another "cake" analogy). Some of the men taking part in this wife-totting championship train for months ahead of time. It's tough work making it through the grueling 250 meter course, which is complete with hurdles and a pool of deep water. If you’re not in shape, the bodily strains could easily throw your back out.

Some say the competition got its start in the time-honored tradition of "wife stealing." Others say it comes from a gang initiation. Maybe this odd event took off because the good people of Finland were simply looking for a creative way to pass the time, and they got tired of all the Ant Nest Sitting Competitions.